1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus for a vehicle. More particularly, the present invention relates to a cooling apparatus for a vehicle, in which, in order to improve the cooling performance of a cooling module including an aircon condenser, a radiator for an electromotive device, a radiator for a stack, and a cooling fan, each constituent is disposed according to the amount of heat transfer and operation temperature, and outside air being introduced from the outside of a vehicle is efficiently supplied and cooled.
2. Description of Related Art
Of late, the growing interest in energy efficiency and environmental pollution has increased the demand for environmentally-friendly vehicles capable of substantially replacing internal combustion engine vehicles. In general, such environmentally-friendly vehicles are classified into electric vehicles driven by a fuel cell or electricity, or hybrid vehicles driven by an engine and an electric battery.
Here, as for the electric vehicle adopting a fuel cell, chemical reaction energy between oxygen and hydrogen is converted into electrical energy to thus generate driving torque. In this process, heat energy is generated by chemical reaction within the fuel cell, and this heat needs to be effectively removed in order to ensure the performance of the fuel cell.
Furthermore, even in the hybrid vehicle, driving torque is generated by driving a motor using a fuel cell or electricity supplied from an electric battery, together with an engine operated by general fuel. In this regard, the performance of the motor can be secured only when heat generated from the fuel cell, the battery and the motor is effectively removed.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a cooling apparatus for a vehicle according to the conventional art. A cooling apparatus 1 for a vehicle includes a coolant circulation system.
The cooling apparatus 1 for a vehicle according to the conventional art includes an electromotive device 6 including an inverter 3 and a motor 5, a cooling module 15 including an aircon condenser 9, a radiator 11, and a cooling fan 13 at the front side of a vehicle in order to cool a driving system configured as a fuel cell stack 7, a cooling line 17 connecting the cooling module 15 and the driving with each other, cooling pumps W1 and W2 circulating a coolant, and reservoir tanks T1 and T2 storing the coolant.
Here, the radiator 11 is configured separately into a radiator 19 for the electromotive device, and a radiator 21 for a stack, and is disposed between the aircon condenser 9 and the cooling fan 13.
The radiators 19 and 21 respectively supply coolants to the inverter 3 and the motor 5, and the fuel cell stack 7 by the operation of the respective water pumps W1 and W2. The supplied coolants are stored in the respective reservoir tanks T1 and T2 and then flow into the respective radiators 19 and 21. By repeating the above process, the coolants circulate to thus cool the driving system of the vehicle.
However, the radiator 19 for an electromotive device, and the radiator 21 for a stack, included in the cooling module 15, need to be separately manufactured and then applied to the conventional cooling apparatus 1 for a fuel cell vehicle, and the capacity of the radiator 21 for a stack needs to be high enough to ensure the cooling performance for the fuel cell stack 7. This complicates the construction of the cooling apparatus, makes it difficult to ensure the space for mounting each of the radiators 19 and 21, and increases manufacturing costs due to the individual production of each constituent.
Also, since the aircon condenser 9, the radiator 9 for an electromotive device, the radiator 21 for a stack, and the cooling fan 13, constituting the cooling module 15, are disposed in series, the outside air of a vehicle is introduced in a heated state while passing through the aircon condenser 9, and the wind speed is reduced by an increase in air resistance, thus deteriorating the cooling performance of each of the radiators 19 and 21.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.